Wednesday, May 19, 2010

MINI E Only the Beginning

Mini Es turned in as the lease concludes have not been dispatched to the smasher. “We will refurbish all Mini Es off-lease and put them into service around the world,” Steinberg says.

The Mini E cars have held up well during the recent lease trial. “We have not seen any significant deterioration of range, but there’s been some,” he says. “Some cars have been better than others in terms of charging behavior, but it has to do with driving conditions and climate. All these things have an impact vehicle by vehicle.”

BMW has not yet finalized pricing for the ActiveE when it arrives next year, but Steinberg hopes to undercut the Mini E pricetag. BMW expects again to target the ActiveE in New York and California.

Referring to the Mega City Vehicle,

Derived from a bespoke architecture, the MCV will feature four doors and seating for four occupants. The body-in-white will be produced from carbon fiber manufactured at a new $100 million plant being built in Moses Lake, WA, by SGL Group and BMW.

The location is intended to take advantage of plentiful hydro-electric power because carbon-fiber production requires much energy and generates lots of carbon dioxide.

The raw material will arrive from Japan, and the carbon fiber will be shipped to Landshut, Germany, where the carbon-fiber reinforced plastic parts will be fabricated. Vehicle assembly will be in Leipzig, Germany.

The goal of the MCV program is to keep the same range of about 100 miles but reduce the capacity of the battery from 30 kW to 16 kW in a bid to reduce weight.